Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 173 Meeting Shen Tingyang Again

In early August of the T&T calendar, the monsoon transition period quietly arrived. Before Lin Hai went north to Zhoushan, he held a grand military parade in Keelung.

The troops reviewed included the Zhoushan Battalion, which had been renamed the Army Department, as well as the Navy Department and the Security Department under the Tamsui Civil Affairs Council. There were more than [-] people in total, more than [-]% of whom were sailors from the Navy Department.

Dominican Father Martinez proposed to Lin Hai that Karen, the commander of the Second Fleet, also go to Manila with Miguel, because Karen is the new Philippine Governor Juan Ninho de Tavola. A close confidant, if he personally explains Lin Hai's strength to Tavola, it will appear more credible.

At the same time, Martinez and Karen made a secret deal to put all the responsibility for the fall of Keelon on the so-called traitor Valdez, including the robbery of the Immaculate Virgin. This is the flagship of the Second Fleet. As the supreme commander of the fleet, Karen was originally one of the main responsible persons.

What Karen had to do was to assist the Dominicans in persuading Governor Tavola. In order to reduce the charges he might face after returning to Manila, Karen agreed with Martinez.

That's why Lin Haicai temporarily decided to hold such a military parade to show off his muscles to the Governor of the Philippines.

"Lao Wa, what do you think of my soldiers?" When he learned that Valdez was once a low-level officer in the Spanish Legion of Flanders, Lin Hai hired him as a senior consultant of Huiyou Company. This man had been recognized by his compatriots. Betrayed, never to return to the Philippines or Spain.

Of course, the so-called senior adviser was just acting in concert with Martinez. As the traitor who gave up Keelon, Lin Hai had to reward him, but he would not let him take on any specific work. Essentially, he was just a prisoner under house arrest.

"Your Excellency the General's army is mixed. About a thousand people can be called elite, another five hundred are not bad, and the remaining two thousand people can only be said to be average." Valdez believes that the Army Department is elite, and the Garrison Department Not bad, but the sailors in the Admiralty are average.

An expert can tell the quality of an army at a glance. Although the tactical systems of the East and the West are very different, this is still not a problem. Logistics and discipline have a greater impact on an army's combat effectiveness than tactics.

"Really? How does that compare to the Flanders Army?" Lin Hai then asked.

"No one will know the answer to this question without fighting against each other." Valdez avoided talking. He served in the Army of Flanders more than ten years ago. At that time, due to repeated financial bankruptcies in Spain, this army The elite European players who once achieved a one-to-one exchange ratio in the Netherlands are no longer what they used to be.

After the military parade, Lin Hai officially granted Miguel a letter of appointment as a plenipotentiary envoy, allowing him to set off for Manila when the wind direction was suitable. Then he and Ou Zuoji went north to Zhejiang.

They came directly to Sijiao Mountain, which is now under the charge of Umino Zuobei. After Zhang Yong snatched the batch of raw silk, he was secretly sent to Pi Island by Lin Hai. Now he should have made contact with Zheng Tingqiu who went there later.

Mount Sijiao is located southwest of Hirado, and the line connecting the two passes through the northwest monsoon or southeast monsoon that prevails in the East China Sea at an almost vertical angle. In other words, no matter it is the south wind season or the north wind season, the sailboat can travel between the two places by taking advantage of the cross wind.

When Shi Bi and others went to Macau, Lin Hai asked Miguel to find some sailing logs of the Shuangyu Portuguese from seventy or eighty years ago, and they were lucky enough to find them.

With this and Lin Hai's accurate charts, a direct route from Zhejiang to Japan can be developed.

Lin Hai handed over this task to Lao Ruan. At this time, he had already traveled back and forth between Sijiao Mountain and Hirado, which took only more than ten days in total.

After seeing off Ou Zuoji in Sijiao Mountain, Lin Hai went north to Chongming to meet Shen Tingyang. The north wind season is coming, and he wants to set up an immigration recruitment point in Chongming and Zhoushan to speed up the immigration from Tamsui. This is his main purpose of going north this time.

"Brother Dengwanxian, you haven't seen me for a year. Are you okay?" Shen Tingyang heard that Lin Hai was here and hurriedly went out to greet him personally.

When Lin Hai took office at Zhoushan Middle School, he sent someone to invite Shen Tingyang. However, Shen's father was not well at that time. Shen Tingyang only asked someone to bring the congratulatory gifts and did not attend in person.

After the beginning of spring, Shen's father's condition improved. Shen Tingyang went to Zhoushan twice to look for Lin Hai, but Lin Hai was not there, so the two had actually never met each other since they first met last year, but only left a few letters to each other.

Then when Zheng Tingqiu went north, Lin Hai asked him to buy a sand ship from Shen Tingyang, as well as cotton, grain and other common goods on the Beiyang route.

"Toefl, toefl, is your father feeling better?"

"It's still the same. It's pretty good in spring and summer every year, but it's difficult in winter."

The two of them entered the room while chatting. Shen Tingyang quickly arranged for his servants to prepare meals. It was almost dinner time when Lin Hai came, and he was not polite to Shen Tingyang at all.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Lin Hai started to talk about business: "Brother Wu Mei, when I come to Chongming this time, I will go to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing."

Hearing this, Shen Tingyang said: "Deng Wanxian brother, if you have any advice, Mr. Shen is all ears."

"With the care of Dao Zun Hong, I have recruited some private soldiers in Zhoushan. This wise brother knows it." Lin Hai said and added, "It's just that now that Dao Zun Hong has left office, these soldiers are inconvenient for me in Zhoushan, so I sent these soldiers to Zhoushan." We were transferred to a large island overseas in Fujian to be stationed, but this island is sparsely populated and all the military rations we need need to be purchased from outside, so I find it quite difficult."

Shen Tingyang also knew about Lin Hai's recruitment of private soldiers. When he heard this, he thought that Lin Hai was here to fight against the autumn wind. He immediately laughed and said: "My dear brother, I train soldiers to serve the country. Shen said that he will break up his family to help. If my dear brother is in need, Just ask."

"No, no, Brother Xian, you have misunderstood me. What I originally said was that when I raise my troops to go north, I hope Brother Xian will help me." Lin Hai said and added, "Now that I haven't gone to Liaodong to fight against the slaves, what can I do? Dare you be so shameless as to ask for help from Brother Xian?"

Hearing this, Shen Tingyang said: "In that case, I might as well say clearly, what do you need Shen's service for?"

Lin Haidao: "I want to recruit some people who are good at farming in Chongming to go to Fujian to colonize overseas."

"So that's it. I wonder how many people Xian brother wants to recruit?" Shen Tingyang knew that Lin Hai must be recruiting a lot of people. Otherwise, there would be no need to find him. He could just find a place where refugees gather, and he would be able to do this without anyone noticing. Done. "I now have two thousand land soldiers and three thousand sailors, and my annual military rations are nearly one hundred thousand. In addition, I want to recruit more soldiers next year so that I can go north to attack the slaves as soon as possible. Therefore, when it comes to recruiting people for cultivation, the more the better." Lin Hai observed Shen Tingyang's expression as he spoke. This was too sensitive, and he was not sure how Shen Tingyang would react.

Shen Tingyang was silent after hearing this, and after a moment he said, "I wonder how many fields there are on the island that my dear brother mentioned?"

"At least [-] acres are available. I have recruited thousands of illegal households in Fujian to colonize the land. Now the north wind season is coming, so I want to recruit more people in Zhejiang and other places."

Three hundred thousand acres of land is less than one-third of the registered acres in Chongming County. What Lin Hai said was only the amount of cultivated land in the Taipei Basin, so as not to aggravate Shen Tingyang's doubts.

Shen Tingyang said: "With [-] acres of land, if the yield per acre in Jiangnan is used, [-] stone grains per year will be no problem. I wonder how many soldiers you want to raise, dear brother?"

"The land on the island is barren. These [-] acres of land can only produce [-] shi of grain at most. The most I can receive in land rent is [-] shi, and I can only raise [-] soldiers." Lin Hai said again. He said, "If we don't have tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, going to Liaodong is just a matter of death."

Shen Tingyang heard this and said: "Why do you have to raise your own troops, dear brother? Why not go to the capital to do some activities and find a military position in Liaodong, so that the court will allocate food and salary."

Lin Hai shook his head and said with a smile: "Brother Shen doesn't know something. The imperial court has been owed wages for more than a day or two. Otherwise, how could we, the great Ming Dynasty, have allowed Jiannu to jump to the throne? Since Jin Shang ascended the throne, Shenyang, Liaoyang, and Guangning have been lost one after another. The land of Liaodong is in the hands of slaves, but whoever cares about the country will not sigh with regret?"

"Didn't Liaodong win a great victory over Ningyuan in the first month of this year? I heard that all the old slaves were injured by artillery shells, and maybe they will die soon." Shen Tingyang did not take Lin Hai's words seriously. In his opinion, it was only a matter of time to wipe out the slaves.

"Ningyuan is not a great victory at all. Fifteen thousand soldiers and civilians on Juhua Island were massacred by old slaves, and more than two thousand ships were burned. How can this be regarded as a great victory? The imperial court relied on nothing more than a strong city and powerful artillery, and it was in no way capable of fighting against the enemy. If you can't fight in the field, how can you talk about regaining the lost ground?" Lin Hai ruthlessly shattered Shen Tingyang's illusions. At this time, there were still many people in the Ming Dynasty who were as deceived by the illusory victory as he was.

Shen Tingyang also knew about the battle of Juehua Island. After hearing what Lin Hai said, he said: "In my opinion, how can we drive Jiannu back to his hometown?"

"I just said that we must have elite soldiers who can fight with Jiannu in the field, so I want to train an elite army first, and then go north to find a military position." Lin Hai added, "What's more, now that eunuchs are The party is in charge of the government, and Lin is unwilling to go to the capital for activities. He can only wait in the southeast until the people are in power, and then he can talk about making contributions."

"The words of my worthy brother are very true. Those who harm the world today are slaves second, and eunuchs are the most serious trouble." Shen Tingyang did not agree with what Lin Hai said before, but he deeply agreed with the latter sentence. Chongming In the Ming Dynasty, it was subordinate to the Suzhou Prefecture, and the Suzhou gentry was the most disgusted with the eunuchs, so the Suzhou Civil Revolt broke out.

It was already August of the sixth year of Tianqi. Zhou Shunchang and Huang Zunsu, two Donglin people arrested during the Suzhou civil uprising, had died tragically two months ago. Yan Peiwei and five other rioters who surrendered were also executed last month. cut.

The people of Suzhou buried these five people in Huqiu outside Changmen in the west of Suzhou City. Historically, after Shen Tingyang died, he was buried by his family on the west side of the Huqiu Five Tomb. It is possible that he admired the righteousness of these five people.

Lin Hai then followed his words and said: "Who says otherwise? Lin will definitely not go north until the eunuchs are eliminated. Fortunately, the Battle of Ningyuan has slightly curbed the momentum of establishing slaves, and I still have time to train troops in the southeast. . Now we can only hope that the Holy Lord will wake up as soon as possible, sweep away the demonic atmosphere in the court, and bring about a bright future."

The two chatted for a while, and finally Shen Tingyang said: "My dear brother, Shen already knows what he means. It's just that the matter of recruiting people for reclamation is quite sensitive. I need to ask my father's opinion before I reply to Brother Lin."

When Lin Hai saw what he said, he was helpless at the moment. Without Shen Tingyang's help, recruiting immigrants in Chongming would definitely be a small matter, otherwise the Chongming County Magistrate would not be able to pass the test.

At present, there are more than [-] immigrants in Wanhua, with a population of nearly tens of thousands. Almost all the people on Haitan Island who are willing to apply have been recruited. Chen Youyi is recruiting people for Lin Hai in several surrounding counties, but the speed is not as fast as before. After all, the people on the island have much less resistance to going to sea.

The north wind season is coming. If Lin Hai wants to expand the source of immigrants, he can only start from Zhejiang and Zhejiang Provinces. The first choice among them is the islanders, and among the islanders, there is no one more suitable than Chongming.

Because Chongming is a sandbank on the Yangtze River, agricultural conditions are far better than those of islands without fresh water. Chongming's population is at least twice that of Zhoushan Islands and ten times that of Haitan Island, and the vast majority of them are farmers and fishermen. The proportion is not high.

What's more, Lin Hai once saved the life of Shen Tingyang, the Chongming Emperor. If he could get the latter's help, he would probably have no problem recruiting tens of thousands of people here.

That night, after discussing with his father, Shen Tingyang went to Lin Haidao and said: "You still have to come forward to recruit people for reclamation, but don't say it's going to farm overseas, just say it's mining. In this way, Shen can protect Chongming." The county government turned a blind eye to this.”

Lin Hai heard this and asked, "Does the government allow private mining?"

"There are not a few people who mine privately, and it is common for some large mines to have tens of thousands of people." Shen Tingyang continued, "It is enough for [-] households to farm [-] acres of land."

"Sure, just do as Brother Xian said. I will send someone to Chongming as soon as possible." Lin Hai knew that Shen Tingyang had set a path for him, which meant that he was allowed to recruit up to [-] illegal households from Chongming. This was very important to him. It is said to be a very good result.

After all, if [-] households were to count, there would be between [-] and [-] people. If we calculated the population as more than [-] people per ship, it would take a hundred large ships to transport all these people to Dongfan.

"Thank you Brother Xian for your help. I purchased the ships needed for immigration from Brother Xian's shipyard. One hundred sand ships that can carry more than [-] people, I wonder how long it will take Brother Xian to build them?" Lin Hai conveniently gave them to Shen Tingyang. Ordered a sand ship worth more than [-] taels of silver.

Fighting the wind was too troublesome, and Lin Hai didn't want to take the trouble. Sand ships are still very useful in offshore areas, and their cargo-carrying performance is also very good. These ships can be used in Dongfan.

After finishing his affairs in Chongming, Lin Hai returned to Zhoushan, only to hear news that he didn't expect - Lin Hai was about to be promoted.

　According to Cao Shuji, a population history expert, "Data Analysis of Jiangnan Heavy Duty in the Ming Dynasty, Taking Suzhou Prefecture as an Example", the registered land area of ​​Chongming County in the 89.5th year of Hongzhi was 17.3 acres. In addition, the article estimated that the population of Chongming County during the Hongwu period was about [-]. I estimate that it will be no problem to double it by the end of tomorrow.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)